Disparate data sources
Site-based targeting, event-based targeting, network-targeting and ad server-based targeting all have data that is collected and analyzed separately. The data is in different formats, associated with different vendors and is not translatable into one common format so that it can be manipulated easily. Some vendors offer costly data synchronizations, but these processes are historic. And no real-time decisions can be made. It is not easy to translate banner performance to search performance, or network behavioral targeting to site-side targeting. Each is analyzed separately as a result. The optimization decisions are made for each component without consideration for the performance of the other.
Behavioral targeting techniques produce analytical data from which an advertiser can make optimization decisions. The knowledge gained from one technique can have a benefit on another one with the translation of knowledge and integration of the relationships of the behaviors together. Event-based targeting enables you to show specific ads to someone based on pages they have seen in the past (network and ad server behavioral targeting). But now you can render pages on your website based on all of the ads a visitor saw before they finally clicked on an ad.
Coremetrics, for example, has gone first-party almost all the way. Integrate them with a first-party ad server and you would know not only what marketing message produced a lead, but all of the messages that did not produce a reaction as well. That information will help you to build the perfect page of products and offers to maximize desired actions on the first page.
Without that kind of cross-technique, actionable integration, advertisers are getting to the point that they have too much to look at. With so much data, they can’t help but deem the entire process as either too daunting or simply not effective. The truth is, the problem lies in the disparity of the data and siloed nature of the techniques.
Too many cookies
Earlier I said the answer lies within the cookie, a common technical thread between the technologies that will enable data to flow together, right? A common report, or the ability for data to flow between reports in real or near-real-time so that each technique can be evaluated holistically?
CMS uses cookies, site-side analytics uses cookies, ad serving uses cookies, event-based targeting uses cookies and networks use cookies. Each vendor uses their own third-party cookie and collects data based on that cookie. That is why the data does not flow. The advertiser uses their own first-party cookie for their eCRM. That is how they track someone once they have logged on; they can track behavior internally.
If every technology operated on the same cookie type, the data would be capable of flowing between the techniques. Each behavioral targeting technology could read the values written by the other and act off of the decisions made by one another.
So engage your behavioral targeting vendors to use your advertiser first-party cookie. Use an ad server like TruEffect, which uses the advertiser’s first-party cookie to serve ads. Have the site-side analytics provider use the advertiser’s cookie, as well, the way WebTrends is capable of doing. Or have the CMS system that is integrated with the site-side tool that is offered by WebSideStory use the advertiser’s cookie. Have the ad server or advertiser drop the first-party cookie on search campaigns so that those campaigns can also be tied together.
